I wasn't sure if this belonged in the beginner forum, but I think this is a fairly serious question.

I have never taken any form of MA before in my life. After a close encounter on the street which I just managed to walk away from (thanks to some strangers jumping in to help!) I would like to make my self competent and confident in the ability to defend myself. I live in Australia so a gun/knife/weapon is highly illegal, so if I find myself in a similar situation where I can't make a run for it and I am forced to fight, I want to have a chance to defend myself.

Before you flame me, I have done quite a bit of research into what art to take, and this is what I have come up with so far.

I looked at Aikido first but I question its usefullness on the street, which is all I'm really interested in/

I was thinking of first taking up Krav Maga as I've been told its relativley quick to learn and extremely effective against many types of scenarios that are likely to be encountered on the street.

I was then thinking after a year or so in KM taking up Hapkido and BJJ. Hapkido it appears, is quite effective for someone of my build (quite lanky) and quite effective on the street, but its flaw (I'm told, though some say HKD includes lots of grappling) is when a fight hits the ground (which I know is the worst place to be in a street situation, but it is quite possible to end up there and I want to know what to do) so I thought of complimenting it with BJJ to get some good ground work covered.

Your thoughts? Should I look at KM first or stick with it longer? Is HKD and BJJ a good idea for a MA or is there something else I should look into?

Muay Thai was also an option but I would like to hear all your thoughts.

I think your on track in terms of what your wanting to do---the hardest thing to do IMO is get past your assumptions and focus on what is really important to you.

What I suggest is rather than establish a specific plan for how much time your going to spend in what....instead simply try it out and see how fast your picking stuff up and what seems to be the dorection your training is heading.

A "year" is an eyeblink when it comes to developing skills...after all the guy that jump might have spent ALOT more time than that on working on THIER skills.

I always tell eveyone that time is also well spent on finding a school and teacher that fits for you--check out multiple schools of the arts that you interested in....all teacher and all schools are NOT created equal---even people/places that proport to teach the SAME things are often very different.

Good luck--let us know how it goes.

_________________________
I did battle with ignorance today.......and ignorance won.
Huey.

I'm a fellow Aussie and teach Reality Based Self Defence (RBSD) in Qld and write for Blitz occasionally. but that doesn't help you being more then 1500 kms away, but you are lucky in that we have a couple of excellent RBSD instructors down your way.

If it is self protection and effective street defence that your after then I'd check out one of the guys first and then further your skills with the more traditional type martial arts. This way you get real, and reliable self defence skills quickly, and can develop yourself as a martial artist without the worry that it will take some time to be come proficient enough to transfer it to the street.

anyway I highly recommend these guys.

see Jim Armstrong at raw combatives, he might seem a bit scary at first (he's a gordie boy) but he knows his stuff and is a great guy. Tell him Drew Guest AKA Drgndrew from Toowoomba sent you. his contact details is on his website.http://www.rawcombatives.com.au/

another guy I highly recommend is Mick Nicholls he's very experienced and vary good at what he does, contact details are via his website-http://www.micknicholls.com/

Melbourne has a good selection of Martial Arts, indeed Victoria in general.

A year of training under these guys will put you in great position to handle any street confrontation, far better then the equivalent time with any of the systems you mentioned. Big call i know, but I know what these guys teach and how they do it, they are amongst the best in Australia.

it's a local Australian forum that may be a little more specific for you.

As for the systems you mentioned It depends on the instructor to a large degree. but Krav will give you a pretty good Street base,

BJJ is handy to have for times when it goes to ground, though most RBSD systems cover ground fighting and will be more street based then competition. ( again depends on the instructor/ school)

Hapkido, IMO, is a good all-round traditional Art.

the truth is if you want to learn to defend yourself then learn self defence, if you want to develop yourself in the many other ways that a Traditional Martial Art can then study a Martial Art.... you can always do both.

regardless of how you choose to go, I'd recommend you write down exactly what you want and ask instructors how they satisfy the list, you will get the typical sales answers but you can still tell a lot also have a play with a few styles and see what one appeals the most

If I can help out any more mate just let me know, my email is in my profile or you can contact m via my website in my signature

For defense I would go with Krav or Systema/Sambo. For Arts that come from the perspective of combat first which is rooted in tradition then San Soo, the different Silat styles, Vietnamese or Thai. After you develop some skils look to styles that you can blend in with and watch how much a "traditional" style improves your skils.